11th in London, pentathlete wants to repeat special Olympic day
By Victoria Klassen
Melanie McCann
Modern Pentathlon
Age: 26
Local Club: ROC Swimming, Ottawa Fencing, Westock Farms
Olympics: Second
Twitter: @melaniejmccann
SCHEDULE
Thu. Aug. 18
Fencing ranking
9 a.m. ET
Fri. Aug. 19
Swimming, fencing bonus round, equestrian, combined (running & shooting)
11 a.m. ET
In 2012, Melanie McCann set a Canadian record at the London Olympics for all-time best finish in the modern pentathlon. In Rio, she’s aiming to land even higher.
“I’m really proud to be there and to earn my place on the start line and I’m really excited to see how I can perform,” says McCann, who placed 11th overall in London. “Obviously a medal is possible and it would be a dream come true if I could bring home a medal for Canada.”
McCann is “100% professional” when it comes to practicing her five-discipline trade, says Paul ApSimon, her coach for fencing – the first event contested amongst swimming, equestrian and combined running and shooting.
“She’s really a dream athlete to work with, in that you can’t ask her to do any more. Sometimes I ask her to do less,” underlines the Ottawa Fencing club head coach. “Anything can happen with Melanie. She has won some international events this year and there’s nobody in the world that she hasn’t beat in pentathlon, so on that specific day, anything is possible.”
The 26-year-old originally from southwestern Ontario moved to Ottawa in 2010 to train under national team coach John Hawes of Stittsville, a former Olympic swimmer and modern pentathlete himself.
Along with her head coach, McCann also has several sport-specific coaches, including ApSimon for fencing out of the RA Centre, and Jeff McKessock at Westar Farms. Her running coach, Mike Woods, a former record-setting track athlete, will be competing at the Rio Olympics in cycling.
“When you’re in the off-season, it’s kind of hard to grind through and see the big picture sometimes,” McCann highlights, identifying one of the biggest challenges she faces. “But I have a fantastic group of coaches who’ve been with me for the past 10 years and they have pushed me and helped me re-focus every day.”
After just missing the podium and an Olympic spot at the Toronto 2015 Pan Am Games, McCann rebounded with a solid start to her 2016 international season, and earned her ticket to Rio thanks to her 18th-place finish in the Olympic qualification rankings.
“The Olympics to me is always pretty special because it only comes once every four years,” McCann underlines. “In my sport in pentathlon, it really is the pinnacle competition – it’s the highest you can go.”
Advice to young aspiring Olympians:
“Two things. First of all is to dream big, because you never know where it’s going to take you. Second of all is to build yourself a little support group and share your dreams with those people that you trust, because even if it seems kind of big and looming at the time, those are the people who are going to push you through the days when it’s not so clear.”